In article <AGQed.361$lv.337@newsfe1-win.ntli.net>, 
ml_news@ddnospamddml1dd.co.uk.dd says...

Note that your computer will become obsolete long before it fails!

Good point but in our cash strapped company, most us are using obsolete 
hardware!  I've had a fan replaced and someone who sits near me had a 
laptop which made a horrible noise all day when the fan bearing went.  We 
were all happy when the fan finally packed in!  Another guy had to sit 
his laptop on the air con unit to work it after his fan went!  Luckily 
they're getting or have new laptops now but you get the idea that fan 
wear is a pain on a laptop where I am now.  (if you think that's bad then 
I'd better not tell you about some of the servers we have!)

I take your point that power up and down is a great wear on components 
but I'm not sure that this enegery saving mode actually involves powering 
anything off. Also, increased heat increases wear (If I remember my 
electronics correctly) - I'll agree that it's fractional and that the 
system will be obsolete before it wears out. (but see above!)

Running SETI@home will undo all of AMD's hard work mentioned here -

http://www.amd.com/us-
en/Processors/ProductInformation/0,,30_118_9485_9487^10272,00.html

This applies to desktop computers.

It's not going to stop me running SETI@home but I was interested in 
knowing if the FAQ entry was accurate.  I think I've got the answer for 
Intel & AMD but I've no idea about the other machines.

Cheers

Peter